SabresVet

Being a 75 point team this year, I'd expect to see a 10-15 point improvement next season with better play from the young guys. And if they're in the playoff hunt come the trade deadline, tweaking the plan to acquire 1-2 players who can help should not be out of the question. The rebuild should be done correctly, but that doesn't mean they're locked in for how long it'll take. Besides, at some point, ownership can be expected to want results, including financially. Making the playoffs next season might not be a public goal, but it should be a private one given their finish this season. And that will address the profitability issue as well to hopefully increase their budget. Adams should not have received that question, but this is probably the only opportunity someone from the organization will be up to answer questions. I get why it was asked when framed that way.

Hence, why I said "take it FWIW..." At the same time, knowing how Marie Antoinette Pegula is and seeing Terry (who seems more out of it every time he talks) would be of this mindset is reasonable. They're billionaires and sometimes those people just think they're more capable to make better decisions that they really are. Besides, with the Bills in 2017 they were operating from a position of weakness, McD capitalized on that, and ensured he'd have control...which is what he is as a Type A personality. Anyone can reject a report, but here's the deal. When you plunk down hundreds of millions for a team there is no "learning cycle" and needing 2-3 seasons is not a standard. They may be less hands-on now with someone they trust in KA, but in the end it's a business and they want to profit. The good vibes people have right now to feel good is nice heading into 2022-23. I'm saying it's a bottom line thing and fans who invest little compared to ownership should separate perspectives. One thing lost on this discussion of new management like a GM is that it's not hard to take a team already at the bottom and make them passable. Like going from dead last in the NHL for 2020-21 to 24th this season. It's a big jump to go from being a ~75 point team to competing for a playoff spot where this season it required 100 points to achieve.

Take it FWIW, but Paul Hamilton said once that the Pegula's were (and I'm paraphrasing) not keen in retrospect on granting so much authority to McBeane. And that makes sense, because both are delusional about anything sports and are above all criticism. They've never looked in the mirror to acknowledge they're the root cause of the Sabres' woes. The bad hires in key management positions and meddling in personnel should have demonstrated they are clueless, but alas no. They're the modern embodiment of "the emperor has no clothes." As for the attendance numbers, if you take out the Classic game in Hamilton, Buffalo is under 9,500 for the season.

No, only included those who'd be in the playoffs if the season ended today.

Looking at the schedule this season and since 3/1, Buffalo is 7-4-2 against likely playoff teams compared to 5-16-3 before that date. All told, they've played 13 games against likely post-season teams out of 17 total while recording a 10-4-3 overall record. Have to give credit where credit is due coming down the stretch now that they're healthy and have experience playing in DG's system. Still need to improve talent for 2022-23 at the already discussed positions, but encouraging nevertheless.

Adding a legit starting goaltender, banking on Power and Quinn to be above average NHL starters in years 1 and 1.5 and another RHD is no small task. As will be expecting the other youngish types (Mittelstadt, Krebs, Cozens) to improve is a lot to need to go right. It's an encouraging March regardless.

Winning makes everything right. Culture is what people talk and get excited about when the team isn't winning. These tweets are a lot of symbolism and not a lot of substance.

I think of this SNL skit whenever off the wall questions are posed on a message board: ”What if it (the moon) were made of barbecue spare ribs, would you eat it then?”

Let's all be real and agree that Jack Eichel is worse than Vladimir Putin. Even though he's not starting real wars, the emotional damage he did in wanting out of Buffalo has done lasting emotional damage to many Sabres fans. They are aggrieved, angry, and lash out at the mere mention of his name. Isn't that enough to place him in front of an authoritarian on the "I hate him" list? I believe so.

When the team is paying you, there's gonna be reaches like that. I doubt most people would go full negative mode in they were in Rob's shoes.

Do you know who you're responding to?

Understood. 👍 I think this thread is ultimately dead, but will make one last point: the NHL would be a significantly lower quality league if Russians did not participate. And, if they believe the US/CAN environment is unsuitable, they'll be a lot of guys going back to the KHL. The war will end, but the ill-will toward Russian players won't anytime soon. We can do better than that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecJvyvh_Ics

This is conflation. It was the US Government which initiated and led an Olympic boycott during the Summer 1980 games. The Soviets and certain Eastern Bloc nations responded for the '84 Summer Games. A government preventing its athletes from competing in a quadrennial event over a nation's going to war is nothing like individual people demanding that pro and amateur athletes be suspended or banned merely by virtue of their citizenship and heritage. And I am sensitive to Hasek being born in a former Eastern Bloc nation which notoriously cracked down on Czechoslovak's, particularly in 1968.

Good thing the Russians weren't in the NHL during the Afghanistan invasion in December '79. And good thing the mob didn't demand the Super Series stop in 1980, 1983, and 1986. Good thing no one demanded Russian NHL players were punished after invasion of Georgina in 2008 or Crimea in 2014. We're getting toward a modern version of the Committee of Public Safety.

File this one next to stopping the import of Russian vodka. A bunch of symbolism over substance. Punishing people who, only by virtue of their nationality, are apparently guilty in the mob court? It's like there's a race to see who can out outrageous the next person.

Need a lot of things to go right next season for them to sniff the playoffs. Thompson like improvement for Krebs, Quinn, Cozens, and Mittelstadt. Thompson himself taking another step. A full season of Tuch. Power playing well from the start, another 2 defensemen, and the goaltending gets resolved. That's a lot if "hopefully's." The HC still concerns me...he may be a development guy, but it's not looking good that he can match up with the league's better coaches. Perhaps that's a lack of talent, but we're gonna find out if he's the guy for the future real soon when the expectation becomes making the playoffs as opposed to developing out of a bottom of the league team.

That statement was about the difference between how some die hard fans see the team and how front office and management likely does. I suspect most fans are realistic and playing a wait and see game.

Certainly. Players say this, know it to be true, and yet coaches are fired long before a roster is overhauled. This is Adams' team now and the roster features at least 10 players he's acquired or re-signed from previous regimes. The GM would be indicting his whole rebuild shedding players before the HC. Much less problematic to take one on the chin, remove the HC (not advocating for that now) and move forward with another hire.

I doubt anyone outside the organization knows for sure. Then again, when you're drawing less than 8,700 per home game I wouldn't be optimistic. The gap between fan reality and team leadership reality has grown. What is acceptable to a core group of hardcore fans isn't translating to the fans at large nor, I have to believe, team management. The low home attendance is indicative of this, and those rebuilds you reference have worn thin whatever patience existed. I still maintain that there is nothing to quantify Buffalo has improved this season beside the general claims fans make that the younger players are better. Even if you take the W-L record out of that discussion, the defense isn't better. The goaltending has been mismanaged as it has been for years. Coaching, while an improvement from some, isn't at the level I think people expected.

Buffalo hasn't beaten a likely playoff team since January 13th at Nashville. Their wins after that are OTT, PHI, AZ, MON, and NYI. You keep expectations reasonable for a rebuild in year 1, but the consistent effort, defensive improvement, etc. isn't happening under this HC. The rebuild is regressing.

Some people need a grievance to live and things just aren't good unless there's something to be angry about. Besides, with the franchise at the lowest point in a decade plus, deflecting back to Eichel provides a convenient distraction from a bottom quartile (again) team. If a fan forms their identity around a pro sports team, they personalize the rejection of a player like Eichel for wanting to leave. It's why some can't get past that he wanted out and now plays for another team. They didn't get their pound of flesh. Sad really.

When you gonna go back to TBD to rag on fans not being fan enough?

That seems to be the standard of acceptance for Buffalo owners. Ralph Wilson wasn't the worst either...it's just that he wasn't good enough. Achieving excellence (i.e. championship caliber teams) calls for better than that standard. And that's hard to impress on people driven by the fear of losing a franchise.

45% of the arena is sold on average each home game. Attribute the decline to the virus, border, whatever, that's still a bad look and part of the reason why there should be changes after this season. They are 2-10-3 in their last 15 home games. Question to ask is, are the Sabres improving? And, if not, how much of is on goaltending and how much is coaching, scheme, talent, injuries, etc? Certainly a nuanced answer.